This letter was sent to Susan Dickinson in the 1880s (Smith and Hart), possibly in
1883 (THJ). The allusion to Antony and Cleopatra
(II.ii.225–26) appears, altered, in both a letter to Edward (Ned)
Dickinson, HCL B 118, composed in late 1885
(THJ), and in a fragment, A 249 / 250, possibly
composed in 1883 (RWF). At some point, perhaps during the editing of Face
to Face (1932), the signature on the letter to Ned Dickinson was torn
away and physically associated with this letter to Susan Dickinson. Small amounts
of what appears to be glue or paste residue on HCL B 24 may indicate that this
letter was pasted into a letter album. The verso of the manuscript (not reproduced
here) is addressed, by Dickinson, "Susan -."